Let me share with you a giggle that occurred this week. As we attended our church service on Sunday morning, complete with face masks and all the Covid protocols, our worship leader lead us through This is the Air I Breathe. If you are not familiar with the worship song, it starts like this: This is the air I breathe… and goes on to refer to our need for the Holy Spirit to be the living part of our daily lives. Which is all good. The giggle comes as I was sitting with the words mulling in my brain, breathing, my breath filtered up through my mask and totally clouded my glasses! To the point where I could no longer see the screen where the words were being projected. It struck me in a practical way how real air is. This really was the air I was breathing… right there in my face! We take breathing for granted. It’s only when our oxygen is restricted or otherwise hindered that we become acutely aware of how much it is needed.
I am pretty sure many of you are feeling the restrictions of face masks and shields, and understand what I am getting at here. Perhaps you feel it is an inconvenience. You feel “restricted” and desperate for real air. Living and fresh and clear. On one hand we say we are are suffering at personal levels. But if we see the other side of the coin, the earth is benefitting as a whole. I was listening to a science podcast that was outlining one of the benefits to this worldwide pandemic was that air pollution seems to be on the decrease. Less travel and fewer cars makes for clearer roads. Apparently, neighbouring villages can now see the distant himalayan mountains for the first time in 30 years!
The air around us contains only about 21% oxygen. It’s only a small portion of what we personally need. Nitrogen and other gases make up the rest … not to mention the other particles like dust, mold, water and who knows what. Isn’t it amazing that our bodies can filter through all that stuff to get us what we need… without us even trying.
John 3:8(NASB) says:
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Our new lives in Christ cannot be seen or felt. Much like that of the work in our lives by the Holy Spirit. There is evidence of change… movement, a noticeable difference to the norm. We can’t pinpoint it, nor contain it… but it certainly is there! Like the air we breathe, we take it for granted, and are only reminded of His work when the evidence abounds. Or your mask causes you to get all fogged up. Both trials and joy-filled moments can present fresh air for our spiritual lives. Those moments force us to take notice of the simple things we often don’t “see”. So, my friends, if you are feeling desperate for the Spirit’s work to be evident, you might just have to take a good look around. It’s there. In the fogged up glass amongst the pollution and the stuff of this world. And we are desperate for it, every day.
mittonmusings 